Shakespeare, heavy metal and square dancing: 10 things to do this week

Lucas Boutilier07.17.2013

SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK: The final days of this year’s Freewill Shakespeare Festival are upon us, and a last chance to catch the company’s versions of King Lear and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Guest director Jim Guedo takes you inside the mind of a monarch going mad in his interpretation of King Lear, a harrowing tale of an aging king, his banished daughter and her tricky sisters who are plotting to take the throne. Marianne Copithorne’s fantastical take on A Midsummer Night’s Dream sees four lovers fall victim to quarrelling fairies in a dreamland of mischief and misunderstandings. King Lear plays on even dates. A Midsummer Night’s Dream plays on odd dates and matinees. When: Until Sunday, July 21; evening performances start at 8 p.m., Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. Where: Heritage Amphitheatre, Hawrelak Park. Admission: $25, adults; $17, students and seniors, available from Tix on the Square, 780-420-1757, or at the gate one hour before performance. Info: freewillshakespeare.com

Lucas Boutilier

STATE FAIR: Director Walter Lang and stars Jeanne Crain, Dana Andrews and Dick Haymes knock one out of the park with this 1945 classic musical written by the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein. It’s a lighthearted look at an Iowa farm family’s journey to the fair, where they have many adventures, comic, romantic and otherwise, accompanied by songs that have since entered into the public consciousness, including It’s a Grand Night For Singing, It Might as Well Be Spring and That’s For Me. When: Monday, July 22 at 8 p.m. Where: Royal Alberta Museum, 12845 102nd Ave. Admission: $6, adults; $5, seniors and students, $3, children. Info: royalalbertamuseum.caSupplied

HOLY GRAIL: Pasadena’s Holy Grail are heavy metal personified, possessing a seemingly infinite arsenal of mind-blowing riffs, skyscraping vocal melodies and devastating drum dynamism. Not to mention the kind of six-string acrobatics and straight-up power-shredding that would make Yngwie Malmsteen chuck the proverbial goat in sweep-picking solidarity. Is this a concert that you should not miss if you count yourself a metal fanatic? Absolutely. Will the tiny Wunderbar be just about the most perfect place to have your innards rearranged through sonic force? Undeniably. Also on the bill are Anti-Mortem and Ironstorm. When: Thursday, July 18 at 9 p.m. Where: Wunderbar, 8120 101st St. Admission: $10 to $12, available from Yeglive or at the door. Info: yeglive.caSupplied

ANTIQUE CARS: It’s not often that you’ll see an antique car show put together with square dance demonstrations, but that’s what the South East Edmonton Seniors Association have in store for the middle of the week, perhaps in an attempt to entice those two often disparate audiences to hang out together. What’s not to like? Check out the cool wheels and see if you can scope out some swanky moves from the hoofers. It’s an intriguing afternoon option, with the added bonus of hotdogs, beverage and tasty treat for the low price of $5. When: Wednesday, July 24, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Where: West Parking Lot, 9350 82nd St. Admission: Free. Info: seesa.caSupplied

NIGHT MARKET: Night market: All across Canada you can find night markets that boast hundreds of vendors and thousands of eager patrons. Now Edmonton is getting in on the action, with bazaars like the JLS Night Market running outdoors until September, offering food trucks, bath and beauty products, handbags, scarves, goods from around the globe, local entertainment and broadcasting from Guerrilla Radio, a new Edmonton radio station. When: Saturday, July 20, 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. Where: Parking lot at 102nd Avenue and 106th Street. Admission: Free. Info: jlsnightmarket.comSupplied

PERFORMING PETUNIA: Spending the early part of his career playing on every major street corner, subway station and park bench in Canada, picking, grinning and singing for his living, Petunia has been a regular on the Canadian touring circuit for many years now. The singer-guitarist plays 150 shows a year all over Canada and has begun touring into the U.S. with his Vancouver band The Vipers, picking up critical plaudits. The stylistically diverse band has a unique, surreal sound that’s all their own, rambling through rockabilly, Appalachian music, swing, jazz, hillbilly and samba as easily as traditional country and folk. When: Sunday, July 21 at 7:30 p.m. Where: The Artery, 9535 Jasper Ave. Admission: $10 to $12, available from yeglive or at the door. Info: yeglive.caEd Araquel

HAVE A SEAT: The Art of Seating: Two Hundred Years of American Design presents a survey of exceptional American chair design from the early 19th century to the present day. The chair is experienced not only as a functional item, but as sculptural in view — the chair as art. Each of the approximately 40 chairs in the exhibition is chosen for its beauty and historical context with important social, economic, political and cultural influences. Each chair has a story to tell, whether of an American community, an individual artist, an engineering innovation or even natural epidemics. Included in the exhibitions are designs by John Henry Belter, George Hunzinger, Herter Brothers, Stickley Brothers, Frank Lloyd Wright, Isamu Noguchi and Frank Gehry, among others. In this photo: A high stool (with footrest) from 1971, designed by Frank Gehry. When: Until Oct. 6. Where: Royal Alberta Museum, 12845 102nd Ave. Admission: $11, adult; $8, senior; $7, student; $5, youth; children under 6 free. Info: royalalbertamuseum.caSupplied

MUSICFEST: Brazil’s Winterschneise Blaskapelle are among the musical guests playing the town of Devon for this weekend’s International Musicfest. Other groups include Edmonton’s Festival City Winds, Gateway Big Band, the Royal Canadian Artillery Band, Devon Jazz Octet, JMHS Stage Band, JMHS Alumni Band, plus the Bavarian Schuhplattlers, above. Friday night is a gala evening that includes cocktails and dinner; Saturday is all-day musical fun. When: Friday, July 19 at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, July 20 at 1 p.m. Where: Dale Fisher Arena, 32 Haven Ave., Devon. Admission: $40 for Friday gala, $20, adult, $5, child for Saturday, available at Town of Devon Municipal Office, 780-987-8328. Info: devon.caSupplied

SUPERBAND: A Taste of Edmonton is running all week, and along with the opportunity to try samples from some of Edmonton’s finest restaurants is a chance to see a number of great local bands in action for free. One of them is SuperBand, a high-powered, eight-piece funk unit that draws from some of the city’s finest musicians. This version includes guitarist Peter Belec and keyboardist Doug Organ, with a horn section made up of Jerrold Dubyk, Marty Majorowitz and Sergio Rodriguez. To cap it off, Swerve Griffin, (a.k.a. Fendercase — Ian Alleyne) and Doctor Jones (Orville Cameron) trade off on vocals. When: Wednesday, July 24 at 8:30 p.m. Where: Winston Churchill Square. Admission: Free. Info: tasteofedm.caSupplied

QUEEN REBA: For some, she’s the Queen of Country, to others she’s a multi-talented sensation with successful forays into film, television, theatre and voice acting. Reba McEntire has had 28 gold, platinum or multi-platinum hit records, a popular sitcom (Reba) and an acclaimed performance as Annie Oakley in a Broadway hit musical. She’s been dabbling in television ever since, but with the cancellation of her most recent series, Malibu Country, she’s back on the road. No new record, just presumably the hits, and by now she’s accumulated a lot of them. When: Friday, July 19 at 7:30 p.m. Where: Rexall Place. Admission: $55 to $105, available from Ticketmaster, 780-451-8000. Info: ticketmaster.caBrett Deering
/ The Associated Press

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